ALOGNES.]

The church of Colomby, to use the language of M. de Gerville, is one of
the last of the religious edifices built by those powerful barons, whose
sway extended equally over Normandy and England. No records, indeed, are
left either as to the actual time of its erection, or the name of its
founder. With respect, however, to the former, the style of the
architecture is sufficiently decisive; and there is as little cause for
hesitation in referring its origin to a nobleman allied to the family of
the Conqueror.

Baldwin de Brionis, or de Molis, who accompanied that monarch in his
expedition against England, and was afterwards married to his niece, was
rewarded by him for his services, with the barony of Okehampton, where
he resided, as well as with the custody of the county of Devon, and the
government of Exeter castle, in fee. The earldom of the same county,
together with a grant of the Isle of Wight, was conferred by Henry I.
upon the son of Baldwin, Richard de Redvers; and, either in the same or
the following generation, this powerful family obtained a still farther
accession to its riches and honors, in the possession of Nehou, a
considerable portion of the barony of St. Sauveur le Vicomte, which
Neel, Viscount of the Cotentin, had forfeited in 1047. The domain of
Nehou included a collegiate church; and one of the prebends of this was
attached to the second portion of the church of Colomby.

It appears from three inquiries instituted at different times by the
bishops of Coutances, with a view to ascertain the value of the livings
in their diocese, that, in the years 1255, 1666, and 1737, Colomby was
under two separate ministers; one of them nominated by the lord, the
other by the abbey of Montbourg.[84]

Almost all the noblemen of the family of Redvers, who, after the
conquest of England, commonly assumed the additional name of Vernon,
were distinguished by the baptismal appellation of Baldwin, William, or
Richard. The first of the Richards laid the foundation of the monastery
of Montbourg. He died there in 1107, after having enriched his rising
convent with numerous donations, and, among others, with the second
portion of Colomby. Baldwin, his son and successor, confirmed the
donations: he took arms against King Stephen, and was forced by that
monarch to flee from England in 1136; shortly after which time he
completed the abbey begun by his father, and caused it to be dedicated
in 1152: three years subs